# Privacy & Shielded Transactions

Verus supports full transaction privacy using Sapling zero-knowledge proofs. This guide explains how privacy works, the commands involved, and best practices.

Both types coexist on the same chain. You choose your privacy level per transaction.

Verus uses the Sapling upgrade of Zcash's zero-knowledge proof system. When you send a shielded transaction:

1. A zero-knowledge proof proves the transaction is valid without revealing details
2. The sender, receiver, and amount are encrypted on-chain
3. Only the parties involved (and anyone with a viewing key) can see the details

Sapling proofs are fast to generate (a few seconds) and small in size.

./verus z_getnewaddress

Returns a zs... address.

Important limitation: Z-addresses can only hold the native blockchain currency (e.g., VRSC on the Verus chain). Tokens and basket currencies cannot be held in shielded addresses.

Tip: If your VerusID has a linked z-address, you can send native currency to it using the VerusID@:private syntax (e.g., sendcurrency "*" '[{"address":"MyID@:private","amount":10}]').

Move coins from a transparent address to a shielded one:

./verus z_sendmany "RYourTransparentAddress" '[{"address":"zsYourShieldedAddress","amount":10.0}]'

This returns an operation ID (e.g., opid-abc123). Check its status:

./verus z_getoperationstatus '["opid-abc123"]'

Note: As of block 800,200 on mainnet, coinbase shielding is no longer required before spending mining/staking rewards. Prior to this block, coinbase outputs had to be shielded (sent to a z-address and back) before they could be spent transparently.

Miners can shield coinbase rewards directly:

./verus z_shieldcoinbase "RYourMiningAddress" "zsYourShieldedAddress"

Or shield from all transparent addresses:

./verus z_shieldcoinbase "*" "zsYourShieldedAddress"

For maximum privacy, send from a shielded address to another shielded address:

./verus z_sendmany "zsYourShieldedAddress" '[{"address":"zsRecipientAddress","amount":5.0,"memo":"encrypted memo here"}]'

The optional memo field lets you include an encrypted message (up to 512 bytes) visible only to the recipient.

# Single shielded address
./verus z_getbalance "zsYourShieldedAddress"

# All balances (transparent + shielded)
./verus z_gettotalbalance

./verus z_viewtransaction "txid"

Shows decoded details of a shielded transaction — inputs, outputs, amounts, and memos — from your wallet's perspective.

Viewing keys let a third party see your shielded transactions without the ability to spend your funds. Useful for audits, tax reporting, or monitoring.

./verus z_exportviewingkey "zsYourShieldedAddress"

./verus z_importviewingkey "viewing-key-string"

After importing, the wallet rescans the blockchain to find matching transactions.

⚠️ Viewing keys reveal all transactions for that address. Share them only with trusted parties.

VerusIDs can have encryption addresses for receiving encrypted messages:

./verus z_getencryptionaddress "zsYourShieldedAddress"

This is used in protocol-level encrypted messaging between VerusIDs.

• Use shielded-to-shielded transactions for maximum privacy
• Shield all at once rather than in recognizable amounts
• Wait between shielding and spending to break timing correlation
• Use unique shielded addresses for different purposes
• Shield mining rewards with z_shieldcoinbase before spending

• Don't shield and immediately unshield the same amount — this links the transactions
• Don't reuse shielded addresses publicly — each exposure reduces privacy
• Don't send exact round-trip amounts (e.g., shield 10, unshield 10) — amount correlation
• Don't ignore transparent change — it can leak information

Mining Reward (coinbase)
  └─ z_shieldcoinbase ──→ Shielded Pool
                              │
Transparent Balance            │
  └─ z_sendmany ──────→ Shielded Pool
                              │
                     z_sendmany (zs→zs)
                              │
                         Full Privacy ✓

• Send a Private Transaction — Step-by-step how-to
• Wallet Setup — Address types explained
• Command Reference: Wallet — All z_* commands